Network processing infrastructures, such as EFT (Electronic Funds Transfer) network processing, are used to process payments from traditional credit or debit card transactions. EFT enables quick provisioning of account information and other related information for purchases and other purposes. For example, when a cardholding customer seeks to purchase an item at a store, the customer will generally hand her card to the merchant and the merchant will swipe the card through a magnetic stripe machine to read the card information, including the card number. Card numbers are typically 13-19 digits long, and uniquely identify the user's credit or debit account.
After the card number is received by the merchant, the merchant sends the card number, along with other information associated with the transaction, such as price, date, time, location, cardholder name, to a payment network. The payment network will typically route that information to the appropriate card issuer based on the card number. The first digits typically identify the “issuer,” that is, the entity, such as a company, that issued the card. So, for example, a card number beginning with a ‘4,’ e.g., 4000 1234 5678 9012, will typically identify VISA as the card provider/issuer. Each issuer typically has a numeric identifier that is associated with and represents their cards.
The appropriate issuer, for example, a credit or charge card company, will then typically consult its records to determine the appropriate account and verify whether that account contains sufficient funds or credit to make a transaction (e.g., a purchase). The result of this determination will typically be returned to inform the merchant whether the user is able to purchase the item. The entire process, from the original capturing of the card data to the response providing funds verification may happen in a relatively short period of time. In some situations, this process happens in real-time or in near real-time.
However, in some situations, a card number for accessing a customer's account is not available. For example, if a customer decides to pay by check, the merchant must capture the RTN (Routing Transit Number) for the bank that issued the check and the customer's personal account number. The merchant must then use a system such as the Automated Clearing House (ACH) to process the payment. ACH typically operates in batches and thus the process to authorize a purchase can take much longer than a card-based transaction. Thus, using ACH increases the amount of time for the merchant to acquire the funds promised. ACH use further includes a possibility of accepting payments that are later found to be uncollectable (also known as a “bounced check”).
In other situations, a customer may not wish to provide his account details to the merchant, for reasons of privacy or otherwise. This can cause issues in payment acceptance because a user will typically need to provide his payment card information. Without this information, the merchant is typically unable to accept payment.
Still in other situations, such as with commercial accounts, there is no card number that can be used to effect purchases. Thus, commercial purchases may need to rely on the ACH system to make purchases, which (as mentioned before) is slow, costly, and inefficient.
It would thus be desirable to provide for improved systems and methods for processing transactions to accounts using existing network processing infrastructure with real-time or near real-time access. It would also be desirable for these systems and methods to support routing, processing, settling, and reporting of payment transactions. Advantages of such systems and methods include increased speed for transaction processing, reliable account management and accounting, and/or a drop in uncollectable accounts. Further advantages will be recognized by one skilled in the art after considering the remainder of the disclosure.